What's truly amazing to me is how totally different this national was from the one in 2011. It was in Oklahoma verses Virginia, but that's not what I mean. It's how everything went, and how I feel today. That's what's totally different.
Two years ago, Cally made it to the challengers round (like the semi finals) and Bunker did super well but didn't do well enough to make the final rounds. Those spots usually go to border collies anyway. This year, Bunker had a qualifying round in Time To Beat and picked up 7 points, Cally took 7th place in Jww. Those were our only qualifying rounds going into Sunday's runs.
The top dogs were a pretty close pack and I knew that going into Sunday's hybrid course. This means that it was time to run "balls to the walls." Partially because we had nothing to lose, but mostly because that's what is super fun. And my dogs rock. We didn't qualify on Sunday, Bunker's teeter got called and he shot through an off course tunnel, Cally took a bar and took the same off course tunnel. But it was FUN and we both left the ring happy. Ok, the dogs were happy and they wanted their cookies, but whatever.
This is the amazing part that gets me: Two years ago, after nationals I was exhausted. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. My entire body ached and I could have just slept for days. This year I feel great. In fact, I'm totally inspired. My mind is turning and churning and I have a bunch of training "what if's and why not's?" rolling around in there. I'm super excited to see where these ideas take us in our training and I'm thrilled to finally be mature enough to know that our runs were perfect even in their imperfections. Just like Arnold says on the Dick's sporting goods commercial. We ran our runs, nobody else's and I won't let the lack of placement or ribbons determine the worth of my dog. They are amazing. Thank you Tulsa for such an awesome experience!
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